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I absolutely need to re-watch this show again. I remember seeing countless episodes years ago (first airings, even?), and I remember so many little moments from it. Really, it's not enough little moments for me to go back to it IMMEDIATELY... but one thing alone will account for it.

@VctrBnsn Totally right. I think it's a shame we couldn't have gotten one more season with Slade. And now that I think of it, I'm not sure I could even pick a favorite Titan. When you have that many good characters in a show, you know it's awesome.

I freaking loved this show. I was consistently smiling due to the humor and the charming and likable characters. Ron Perlman was stunning and made Slade one of my all-time favorite cartoon villains. Although season 3 didn't have as much payoff as the others and season five was an disappointing mixed bag the show was getting better and better with time. The rest of the cast all turned in wonderful performances and the episodes had writing creative enough for every cast member to have fun and be as entertaining as they could be.

The animation was truly gorgeous and extremely expressive thanks to borrowing a few things from anime to give it that stylistic edge that draws so many to it, the music from what I remember got you excited without being distracting, and a love it or hate it theme song that I personally really enjoy. I don't know about everyone else, but I personally enjoy this series much more than Batman The Animated Series. It is simply a great, funny, charming, entertaining, action-packed cartoon that also had some really edge of your seat writing at time.

Season four was impressive, I can't imagine how great it would have been if they didn't have to deal with strict censorship. I'm still surprised they got away with that scene with Slade and Rave when her birthmarks start appearing... that was a little shocking. Overall, one of my favorite shows of all time and I hope they continue it somehow one day.

After Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League, this show is probably my favorite of DC's cartoons. It's interesting and has likable characters. Plus it had an engaging storyline, and beautiful animation. It's definitely memorable, and I enjoyed watching it when it was on.

Looking back at this show and comparing it to other DC animation ventures, it has become my opinion that this is, relatively speaking, DC's best animated work until the DC Nation shorts came along.

While the show's "default" character design is basically Bruce Timm with Japanimation influence mixed in and the show's use of Japanese visual tropes may come across as an attempt to cash in on the growing success of Japanimation in America, this actually allows the show to create specific character expressions and generally work against the rigidness and bland, repetitive character design that the DCAU is infamous for. Oh, and actually having distinct, recognizable voices helps too; I couldn't remember any of the voices in, for example, Young Justice for the life of me, but I can pinpoint voices like Raven's or Beast Boy's in a heartbeat.

Regardless of whether the show's style was an artistic choice or a corporate decision, it was definitely a step in the right direction in terms of DC actually taking advantage of the animation medium's ability to do what other mediums cannot. It is a shame that Glen Murakami opted to stray from this direction in favor of being yet another stiff Bruce Timm clone when he went to make Ben 10 and the like.

Here's hoping that DC learns something from their current DC Nation shorts experiment and starts making more shows like this in the future.

@CatsTuxedo I very much agree. I own all three volumes of Batman The Animated Series on DVD, and I have to say, although it has some great episodes and a few performances like Mark Hamill really stand out... I don't think it's aged nearly as perfectly as everyone says it has. The design and colors in that series were far too limited and bland. Although the writing was solid the characters didn't have nearly as much personality as the ones in Teen Titans.

Yet for some reason... some people complain about Teen Titans for having anime influences to actually make it entertaining to watch? So that it's not the same Bruce Timm design as every single thing that came before it? Critics also talk about how deep and dark BTAS could be and say that TT was too kid friendly and watered down. Okay, the Trigon arc in TT was darker than anything the entire BTAS did, and BTAS is deeper and more adult? Sorry, just because one is more loaded up on melodrama and boohoo-how-tragic doesn't make it more adult.

I think that TT's formula was more diverse and entertaining than most of anything BTAS ever did, some critics just deny it because they hate anime influences in western animation and because they like to think that they're high-brow. Not saying that's everyone's reason for not liking Teen Titans, but a lot of the people who outright dismiss this series just perplexes me. Even good old Crispin Freeman was ripping on this show at a CON one time. *sigh*

@PsychicVoiceSpy I wouldn't completely blame some critics for railing on anime influence in western animation, since that kind of thing has been done poorly before, but TT made it work by using visual anime tropes as tools rather than means onto themselves and created character-specific expressions and physical acting with the aid of those tools. Come to think of it, that may be the very same reason Avatar is so popular as well.

@TheVengeanceKnight Story and characters are fine and all, but those can be pulled off in any live-action production. Teen Titans and Avatar achieved that extra push of theirs by allowing themselves to let loose and have fun every now and then, take advantage of their medium and create moments and actions that can only be achieved in animation. It's that element that separates cartoons from live-action and it's what all animators should strive to accomplish in their work.

@CatsTuxedo I agree to an extent, if they aren't using the medium of animation to be creative and making a conscious effort to entertain they're doing it wrong. If Avatar had, say, the same animation as Scooby Doo Where Are You? I wouldn't have given it more than two episodes. Instead, it accomplished with it's story, characters, music, writing, and had absolutely fantastic and imaginative animation that had passion behind it. If they would have done the same thing with boring, limited animation I would have preferred to just read a book or a graphic novel of it instead.

Writing and characters are important, a lot of people wouldn't want to watch something like Avatar or Teen Titans if it was just pretty and stimulating visuals with no substance. However, animation quality and creativity with the art style is not trivial in the slightest, if you want to create a good animated project it needs to be entertaining and stimulating, good writing isn't enough to do it right.

I agree with you, animators use their talents for different purposes but it should be used in a way that stands out from real life.

@TheVengeanceKnight I never said to totally disregard story and characters. What I was trying to convey is that animators should be allowed to do their job properly and bring a sense of life and appeal to the characters (especially if the writer fails to do so) without being needlessly shackled into rigidness and banality by a system that stifles creativity and individual input. And if Batman of Shanghai proves anything, animation with actual life instilled into it doesn't necessarily have to be "wacky". To reiterate, the one element that separates animation from all other mediums is the animation, and if that element isn't being exercised to its fullest potential, then what's the point?

I bet if you told an animator to their face that their work was trivial compared to that of a scriptwriter (who probably doesn't even specialize in animation), you'd have your clock cleaned in no time at all.

@NCZ The Trouble in Tokyo movie? It was quite a nice way to end the 5th season, but the animated series itself easily stands out on its own. I REALLY miss this show and I am really hoping for a 6th season... :'(